Mapplethorpe. The Complete Flowers

Robert Mapplethorpe. Essay by Herbert Muschamp.

teNeues. Kempen. 2006. First edition. Hardback, large oblong quarto; orange cloth-bound boards, dust jacket. [256 pages.] 53 colour and 227 duotone photographs. English, French and German. 285 x 390mm. 3.5kg. 9783832791681. Fine, in fine dust jacket.

Mapplethorpe is well known for his striking portraits of the human figure, but he would sometimes switch the human for a flower. A simple composition but intense lighting, colour and tone create a strong comment on the essential beauty of nature. The Complete Flowers contains all known examples of Mapplethorpe's flower photographs, from the Polaroids of the early 1970s up to his final works before his death in 1989. The images are sumptuously reproduced on full-page plates.